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Announcements

Blood Drive
Sunday August 27th at 9:00 - 11:30am
The Bridge Church Reno
Please consider giving blood. Your blood donation means everything. To the emergency team working around the clock. To the loved ones anxiously waiting for news. To the patient desperate to recover. Be a hero and donate blood. Sign up here https://thebridgereno.com/donateblood
 
Christmas Choir Listening and Interest Meeting
Sunday August 27th after worship service
The Bridge Church Reno
We will be forming a choir to perform this Christmas season. All ages and skill levels of singers are encouraged to join us after church on Sunday August 27th to talk details and listen to the music selections.
 
The Reno Journal Jog
Sunday August 27th 7:30 – 9:00am
Reno High School Foster Dr.
The Reno Journal Jog is back after a three year break.  This is an 8k foot race that happens in the neighborhood surrounding the church.  The starting/finish line will be right across from the Boys and Girls club next door to the church.  Foster Drive will be closed from approximately 7:15am to 9:05am.  Therefore if you’re planning on coming to church earlier than 9:15 you will need to use the Hunter Lake Drive entrance.

Message Notes

Pharisee and Tax Collector

August 20, 2023

To some who were confident of their own righteousness and looked down on everyone else, Jesus told this parable: “Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. The Pharisee stood by himself and prayed: ‘God, I thank you that I am not like other people—robbers, evildoers, adulterers—or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week and give a tenth of all I get.’ “But the tax collector stood at a distance. He would not even look up to heaven, but beat his breast and said, ‘God, have mercy on me, a sinner.’ “I tell you that this man, rather than the other, went home justified before God. For all those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.”
Luke 18:9–14

The Contrast Between Them
To some who were confident of their own righteousness and looked down on everyone else, Jesus told this parable: “Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. 
Luke 18:9-10

The Pharisee
The Pharisee stood by himself and prayed: ‘God, I thank you that I am not like other people—robbers, evildoers, adulterers—or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week and give a tenth of all I get.’ 
Luke 18:11-12
The Pharisees, who loved money, heard all this and were sneering at Jesus. He said to them, “You are the ones who justify yourselves in the eyes of others, but God knows your hearts. What people value highly is detestable in God’s sight.”
Luke 16:14–15

The Tax Collector
But the tax collector stood at a distance. He would not even look up to heaven, but beat his breast and said, ‘God, have mercy on me, a sinner.’
Luke 18:13
All of us have become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous acts are like filthy rags; we all shrivel up like a leaf, and like the wind our sins sweep us away.
Isaiah 64:6
For this reason he had to be made like them, fully human in every way, in order that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in service to God, and that he might make atonement for the sins of the people.
Hebrews 2:17

The Clarity of Jesus
“I tell you that this man, rather than the other, went home justified before God. For all those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.”
Luke 18:14
For all those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.
Luke 14:11

Bottom Line: Humility Makes the Difference.
Previous Messages Can Be Found Here

Small Groups Talk About It

Watch the latest Message Summary:

Discussion Questions:
  1. Read Luke 9-14 aloud. What does the Pharisee say about himself?  Is he being hypocritical?  What is his point?
  2. What does the Pharisee believe about righteousness?  In what ways are we tempted to be like the Pharisee?  
  3. What moral qualities does the Pharisee have?  What character quality is he missing? See Luke 18:14.
  4. What groups of people do we tend to look down upon today in our culture?  What does that say about us? How does this affect us as we try to share Jesus with them? 
  5. The tax collector actually says, be merciful to me, the sinner, not a sinner.  He uses the definite article “the”. What was his point?  What does he teach us about repentance? 
  6. Read Luke 18:14. What is the conclusion Jesus gives?  What is his point? 
  7. What does it mean that the tax collector went home justified? One person has said: Justification is a legal term borrowed from the courts. It is the opposite of condemnation which means to be declared guilty. Justified means that we have been declared righteous before God by the work of Jesus on the cross for us. 
  8. How would you define humility?  How do you know if you have it or lack it?
  9. Are you trusting in yourself, like the Pharisee or are you trusting in God’s mercy through Jesus Christ?  Will you humble yourself? 
Previous Messages Can Be Found Here